Coe: Inside the courtroom
Rape victims relieved
Two rape victims who have come forward publicly in the Kevin Coe case say they're relieved by the jury's verdict.
Julie Harmia - whose 1980 assault was the only conviction that survived appeals from Coe's criminal trials - said she felt "great relief."
"I'm just about to open a bottle of champagne. I've been on pins and needles," she said from her home in Yakima.
Asked for her reaction, TV anchorwoman Shelly Monahan, who was in the courtroom for the verdict, replied: "Relief - and thanks."
Monahan had tears in her eyes as she hugged Coe's jail guards, the state's two attorneys and victim-witness coordinators from the Spokane County Prosecutor's office.
She is convinced Coe was the man who raped her in 1979, though he never was charged in the case.
A state-hired criminologist testified that the particularly violent assault fit the pattern of Coe's attacks, and a sperm stain found on her jeans matched his blood type.
Both Harmia and Monahan discussed the case in a June "Dateline NBC" broadcast.
There are 3 comments on this post.
As a member of the jury I would like to say this was not an easy decision to make. I definitly felt the wieght of the decision to the victims,the community and even Mr. Coe. What a great comfort it was to me to see Shelly Monahan outside the jury room and to see her obvious emotional relief. I hope this decision helps the victims to continue to heal and that Mr. Coe will seek the obvious treatment he needs.
to lynn and all of the jurors,
please know that the entire community knows how difficult your decision was in this case. for all of the victims and their families, thank you. thank you also for wanting to spend time with me and others after the trial concluded. you will never know how much it meant. i was overwhelmed by each and every one of you.
from the time this rape happened to me, i promised God i would help other sexual assault survivors in any way I could. It was my way of making it out of the rape alive, to give back to other victims, to let them know they would be okay.
my husband and i have prayed about this for a long time. our God tells us to be forgiving and compassionate. I will pray for kevin coe each day. i hope that he seeks treatment and in doing so will some day no longer be a lost soul.
i would also like to thank all of you who have been so very supportive through this process; a process that i never imagined i nor the other victims would go through.
to my family, friends, the management at khq, my co-workers, rick and karen at the spokesman, and all of you who have prayed with me and sent your love and support, your kind emails, cards, letters, and phone calls...thank you.
it is time to move on....time to finally be able to heal and close this chapter.
most sincerely, shelly monahan
Thank you, Shelly and all the victims, for showing what it really means to move on and hold your head up high. Thank you for being there for other victims of violent crime. You give us hope.
« Back to the blog / Comments on this post are now closed.
Kevin Coe, labeled the "South Hill rapist" in a community frightened by dozens of attacks on women in the Spokane area in the late 1970s and early 1980s, has been in prison since 1981. He was slated for release in September 2006 when the Washington state attorney general's office moved to have Coe spend the rest of his life in prison through the civil commitment program. In this trial, the state seeks to convince jurors that Coe represents too much of a threat to ever be released.
Karen Dorn Steele has been a Spokesman-Review reporter since 1982,
covering the courts, environment, enterprise and investigative beat. She
lived in Spokane in 1980 when a series of unsolved rapes terrorized the
city. 
Rick Bonino has worked at The Spokesman-Review in various positions
since 1977. He covered both of Kevin Coe's previous trials, in 1981 and
1985, and also Ruth Coe's trial in 1982. 
Video
Slideshows
Archived stories
Audio